Published November 30, 2011, on the Black, White and Gray blog. To read the full article, click here.
“History, sociology and anthropology all tell us that people’s religious faith will continue to inspire them to do faith-based social service work, and many people will prefer to go to faith-based services agencies because of the focus on the whole person. Aren’t their ways to allow government support for large faith-based organizations that neither lead to government support for proselytizing nor impede religious organizations from carrying out their missions as they define it?
This balance is the essence of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: the federal government shall neither establish a religion nor prevent the free exercise of religion. Although it may be difficult to strike this balance, it’s an ideal worth striving for, as religious organizations like Catholic Charities and courageous religious leaders like Eugene Rivers are a fundamental part of civil society, and a virtuous, ordered, and free society needs both an efficient government and a vibrant civil society.”
To read the full article, click here.
